Charlie Wear’s Notes

I always learn something from Jordon Cooper’s Contextless Links. Today’s lesson was a link to Brad Bird’s list of ways to foster innovation. Boy, there is some good stuff there. Because I have a five-yr. old I know a lot about Pixar products! I have watched the Incredibles numerous times and, I have to admit, I love the movie. What has made Pixar special is their ability to tell a great story using animation.

Ben’s favorite from last summer was "Meet the Robinsons.’ " Companies like Pixar always look like they would be fun to work for. Much more fun than any of the companies or organizations I have worked for. People scoot around on scooters and spend the day drawing pictures and making up stories. Doesn’t that sound like fun. Maybe I can get a job in a place like that when I grow up!

Tivo, DVR, hulu.com, these are the agents of quantum cultural change. Since the 1950s, “prime-time” has meant the hours between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. (or 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. depending on your US Time Zone) when television networks offer their best programming and sell time to their best advertising customers.

Enter Tivo and viewers can shift prime-time to any time and even skip over those pesky commercials. Along comes the now-ubiquitous DVR and every cable or satellite customer can record their favorite programs easily and watch them at a later time.

The introduction of web site hulu.com recently has moved replays of current running television programs to the internet, with fewer and shorter commercial interruptions.

When we moved back to California from Florida recently we switched from cable to satellite and didn’t opt for the DVR feature. Oh, the agony of having two favorite programs on the air at the same time. However, last week I decided enough was enough and negotiated a good deal for installation of DVR. As I write this the excellent installer is preparing to make it possible for us to time-shift to our hearts content.

I know all of this talk about television is proof positive that I am not very “spiritual.” And I will have to confess that I am addicted to TV shows about attorneys, reality shows like Survivor and Big Brother, and I love American Idol. That being said, what is the implication of time-shifting for churches?

For years prime time in Churchianity has been Sunday morning. Saturday nights and Sunday evenings have gained in popularity over the years and with video venues and internet services time-shifting of “service offerings” is likely to come into play more and more in the coming years. Come and See churches will find it more and more difficult to recruit audiences for their weekly offerings. I would submit that this last assertion has been responsible for declines in attendance.

I remain pretty convinced that Christians, particularly seasoned veterans, are less and less interested in religious programming. When you can buy your worship songs on iTunes and through Time-Life, and get sermons from the best preachers in America on YouTube or other internet offerings, why leave the comfort of your home on Sunday morning?

I don’t have an easy conclusion for these observations, “Three easy ways that local churches can meet the challenge of the Tivo!” Let’s sit back, press the record button, and see what happens.

Are people really struggling to make connections? Is "authentic" community as big a deal as church leaders make it out to be? My friend Scott Bane is talking about these issues on his blog. These days I have some extra time to think about these quandaries. Just about a year ago I was up to my neck in thinking about how a new church would deal with some of these issues. Now I am observing from 2000 miles away what is happening in that same new church on these same issues.

I think it is basic to say that most people fulfill their need for community in their families. If this is true, then the need for community increases proportionately when family ties are weakened or broken. Likewise, where families are strong, these church-generated "community connections" are less important. For me the most valuable connections have been those I have made "on mission." This is because I am more of a human "doing" than a human "being."

Ah well, it’s Friday and another weekend is just around the corner. Time to spend with the family!

The time changed yesterday and I didn’t even notice it. I used to have alarm clocks, clock radios and such and with every time change I had to figure out how to change the clock. Now, I use my cell phone as my alarm clock, my computer and the satellite TV automatically change time. I suppose when I get in my truck this morning to head for work I will find that the clock needs to be set.

This is just another example of how much my life has changed since I stopped attending "regular" church services. In my days of "church" attendance time changes were important. They meant I had to get up "earlier" or that I got to sleep in "later."

The other time change that seems to be slipping by unnoticed is the difference between the way I live my life now and the way I lived my life ten years ago. Now there is something to contemplate for sure. I’ll have to do it later though because it is time to get ready for work.

On January 4 I made three political predictions. Yesterday, when Gov. Mitt Romney dropped out of the Republican race, one of those predictions came true. The next president will not be a Mormon. There has been plenty of analysis on one very important point, Christians did not support Romney. You can call it anti-Mormon bigotry, but it could be there were other factors.

It still remains to be seen whether or not Senator Obama can become the Democratic nominee. Apparently the Democratic party rules make it difficult for a candidate to get a clear plurality in a close race. My money is still on Senator Clinton to be the Democratic nominee.

John McCain, born 1936, would be the only President born in the 1930s to be elected. The list of prior presidents:
George W. Bush, born 1946
Bill Clinton, born 1946
George H.W. Bush, born 1924
Ronald Reagan, born 1911
Jimmy Carter, born 1924
Gerald Ford, born 1913
Richard Nixon, born 1913
Lyndon Johnson, born 1908
John F. Kennedy, born 1917

If Barack Obama, born 1961,  is elected he will be the first president born in the 1960s. Which means that the 1950s and the 1930s would have never birthed a president of the United States. (Mike Huckabee was born in 1955).

"Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll" was the mantra of the 60s. This is the lasting imprint of the Baby Boomer generation. And now our children have come of age, and guess what? Drugs and their abuse remain a big problem. Witness the suspected overdose death of rising young actor, Heath Ledger at the age of 28, or the death of Anna Nicole Smith and her son.

Drugs and Alcohol are insidious. My mother (she was not a baby boomer) died at the age of 58 from a drug overdose. I know first-hand what the ripple effects of "recreational" drug use can be in a family. Today, prescription drugs present almost as great a danger. Today, I am praying for the many in our culture, particularly the teenagers, who are caught in the web of drug and alcohol abuse.

This is pretty darn good…sethgodin.com

I should probably start holding seminars on "What is the Emerging Church?" I could categorize and compare the various "expressions" of the emerging church. I could describe the major areas of non-orthodox exploration. I could point out the leading practitioners, theologians and gadflies. Do you think I could charge $129 per person for a full day? Would more than one participant sign up?

Is the emerging church a fad? What does it mean? As a pastor, what should I be doing about it? Is D.A. Carson right? What about Chuck Smith, Sr.? Is the emerging church a sign of the end? Is it a forerunner of last days apostacy? Has Slice sliced it correctly? Has Pyro burnt it appropriately? Is Mark Driscoll the poster child for the EC, or is Spencer Burke?

Recently I attended a national pastors gathering of one of the movements that came out of the Jesus Movement revival of the 70s. At this stage the gathering looked a lot like me, a bunch of middle-aged guys in Hawaiian shirts and bermuda shorts and sandals (at least those of us from California). In a panel discussion on the first day, the national director was insistent that he had the "correct" numbers on the number of movement pastors age 35 and under and it was 30 (out of 500, wink, wink), not 20, he would have you know, by Golly. He went on to say that he just didn’t want others to say that we are irrelevant. (He must not be a regular subscriber to Relevant Magazine!).

On the third day of the conference a young (35 yrs. of age) pastor spoke on the emerging church. His definition? The emerging church is "Churches that are trying to reach young people." He then started his categorizing and comparing and I had to get up and leave! You see he was trying to make sense of something that defies categorization and comparison. And he was trying to speak to an audience of pastors who want to know if the EC is a passing fad, or how they should react when a beret-wearing, goatee-sporting, graduate student approaches him and asks him if he is "missional."

Let me address some of these, uh, burning issues: The emerging church is not an "it." It is not Emergent or Allelon, or Forge, Catalyst or ReImagine! It is not neo-monastic, or universalist, for that matter. It is not a bunch of Birkenstock-wearing, granola-crunching, Yoga-practicing midwest urban folks. It is not a "church within a church," gen-x service, candles and worship installations, liturgy practicing, hours prayers. It is not daily blogging with cool names and ipod loaded teaching. It is not a fad, anymore than Methodism, Presbyterianism, Anglicanism, Catholicism, Lutheranism, uh, you get the idea, were passing fads. It is no more a fad than the Calvary Chapels or the Vineyards. It has no more apostacy than the rest of the apostacy that passes for Christianity today. And by the way, it is not Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, Doug Pagitt, Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet, Spencer Burke, uh, did I leave anyone out, uh, yes, of course I did!

And yet, it is all of the above and so much more. It is what God is raising up to reach the rising culture and the rising generations.

Pastors, if you think you are prepared to deal with today’s cultural atmosphere, go watch the currently playing film, Juno. Then ask yourself this question: What is my congregation doing to make Jesus real to the Junos in our community?

My wife and I went to see "The Bucket List" yesterday. We both really enjoyed the movie, despite it’s less than real premise and maudlin storylines. I couldn’t help but be moved by Morgan Freeman’s character’s approach to faith. One observation: It is very clear that baby boomers are dealing with issues surrounding death and dying, faith and spirituality. What ends up being portrayed is a kind of non-judgmental approach to world religions. Reincarnation is discussed with the same weight as ancient Egyptian myth and the Judeo-Christian God.

Of course, Mr. Freeman (who excels at portraying God and deeply philosophical characters) has found the perfect foil in Jack Nicholson’s extremely wealthy hospital magnate. Medical treatment in general gets short shrift. Director Rob Reiner takes dramatic license a bit when he uses a "dead" character as the film’s narrator. This film should be a must-see for fundamentalist Christian practitioners who want to deny the cultural influences that both favor a return to spirituality and reject institutional "I’m right and you are going to hell" Christianity. Hopefully, it would cause them to think and have compassion, more than it would simply make them angry.